When it comes to the lengths New Zealand will go to turn over the Lions there are none with better first-hand knowledge than Brian O’Driscoll. The captain of the ill-fated 2005 Lions saw no more than a minute of action in the Test series after an off-the-ball incident in which he was upended and driven into the turf by All Black captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu, dislocating his shoulder.
He didn’t play again for five months, and, shamefully, New Zealand rugby circled the wagons so that his assailants escaped disciplinary sanction. Thankfully, O’Driscoll bounced back to become a three-series Lions Test centre, forming a spectacularly effective partnership with Jamie Roberts in 2009 in South Africa, and finishing as part of Warren Gatland’s triumphant side in Australia four years ago.
Having hung up his boots and since become a TV commentator, and also an ambassador for Land Rover as a principal sponsor of the Lions, O’Driscoll is part of their tour to find grassroots rugby people who typify the values of resilience, integrity and passion. Those who do will qualify for a Land Rover trip to the first Test of the 2017 tour in Auckland in June.
The search kicked off at Staines RFC in midweek, with O’Driscoll joining Lions head coach Gatland, and fellow Lions legends Martin Johnson, Gareth Edwards and Gavin Hastings, in a surprise ambush of a Whitton Lions RFC training session.
It is great to see the 2017 Lions maintaining the link between the gold standard of British and Irish rugby and grass-roots clubs like Whitton and Staines, because the strength of the Union code lies in amateur community clubs continuing to thrive, and providing encouraging environments where young players are fostered.
However, the shop window of the sport is still its main inspirational key, and O’Driscoll is keenly aware of the boost in profile that a first series victory in New Zealand for 46 years would give the game in Britain and Ireland.
That’s why he does not duck when asked how the 2005 Lions, who were blackwashed 3-0, got it so badly wrong.
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